Upon the recommendation of some lunatic, I've decided to take on the task of reading Alan Moore's "Jerusalem". I hadn't expected it to be a task to take on, as reading is something I generally enjoy. However, Alan Moore is no joke.
As a sort of thing, we're trying to see if a group reading thing can work through a discord - but rather than getting together and discussing (since I don't know if anyone else is even going to play along), I'm reading a section and then posting some thoughts on it. So, you may see these types of posts now and then, in that vein - as posting it here and linking it in the discord seems to be the thing to do.
The Prelude is only 38 pages, but Alan Moore's pages are heavy pages. Perhaps it's an across-the-pond sort of thing, but there's plenty of unfamiliar terminology I'm encountering that adds to the 'task' aspect and makes it somewhat difficult to parse. For example:
White-water driving by some Netto Fabulous crash-dummy who bled Burberry, shooting the traffic island rapids in his hotwired kayak, home to Jimmy's End across the river in the west, head full of _Grand Theft Auto Sand Andreas and horse tranquilliser, pinprick pupils, squinting in the spindrift of oncoming headlights.
I mostly think I know what's going on. The Prelude is descriptive historically, and tells the tale of a - town/city/nest/suburb/something - in England, and of what was and what has become, casting a foreboding shadow of a setting in my mind. 'things gone to rot' is the resonating smell of the setting, and particularly embodied when Alma's Brother Mick walks to see the paintings his sister made to avoid the apocalyptic vision he had during a near-death experience.
'When Mick walks through the Bath Street Flats' - were dark-brilliantly sharing the heavy fog that can descend upon a mind, and how such things can rapidly overcome and taint our perceptions.
As I continue on, I'll be making sure I have the mental energy required for the endeavor of diving into the work of Alan Moore. It is not a trivial matter.